Fiji Law Society says NZ and Australian judges could trigger a change

The Fiji Law Society says New Zealand and Australian judges could trigger a real change should they decide to join the country's high court.

Fiji is looking for and advertising internationally for high court judges.

This comes after several international bar association reports saying the independence of the Fiji judiciary is compromised since the last coup.

The law society used to be involved in choosing high court judges, but stopped doing so after the 2006 coup.

Its president, Dorsami Naidu, says it has now decided to become re-involved.

"We've had two years of this and as you can see the interim regime has continued to appoint judicial officers of their choosing. This hasn't been good for the judiciary. We have to see if there is another way and we are now participating in choosing judicial officers."

Dorsami Naidu says many locals show little interest in these positions at this stage, because they don't want to be associated with the interim regime.